Digital Commons Network^™

Application Deadline Announced

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Each year FARMS grants fellowships to promising graduate students who are working in fields of interest to FARMS, in the name of Hugh Nibley. Interested students should submit transcripts, curriculum vitae, and letters of recommendation to M. Gerald Bradford at the FARMS office. The deadline for applying for awards for the 1997-98 academic year is 1 June 1997.

Farms Brown Bag Lectures Continue To Enlighten

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Joseph Smith challenged the Saints to find connections between our world and the world of the Egyptians. In a FARMS Brown Bag lecture on 6 November 1996, Michael D. Rhodes and Michael P. Lyon reported on their attempts to aid us in achieving that goal by gathering and cataloging copies of as many of the world's existing hypocephali as possible into a reference work that will assist both LDS and non-LDS scholars in their research of ancient Egyptian studies. A hypocephalus is a circular Egyptian document placed under the head of a deceased person at burial to guide the person's …

Restoration Themes Explored

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

More than three hundred people attended "Pioneers of the Restoration," a conference sponsored by FARMS and BYU Religious Education that presented papers selected from a forthcoming volume in honor of Richard Lloyd Anderson, emeritus professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University.

Nine Scrolls From The Dead Sea Come To Byu

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Few people in the United States have had the opportunity to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. But for thousands from Utah and nearby regions, that situation is about to change.

Physics-Guided Modeling Of Acoustic Environments Using Limited Spatio-Spectro-Temporal Data, Mylan Ray Cook

Theses and Dissertations

When creating data-based models it is important to include the underlying physical characteristics and constraints of the data. If physical characteristics are not properly included in the model, results may be infeasible or physically impossible. Acoustic environments are better characterized by ensuring that models include the fundamental spatial, spectral, and temporal characteristics of noise sources, or how they change based on location, frequency, and time. When model data are limited, in availability or in reliability, additional care must be taken to ensure models predict feasible results. This dissertation focuses on physics-guided modeling of acoustic environments using limited data, taking into …

A Step Into Structural Biology: Structural Determination Of Tnk1-Uba And Computational Design Of A Radical Sam Cyclase, Yi-Jie Tseng

Theses and Dissertations

Structural biology uncovers life's secrets by studying protein structures via techniques like X-ray crystallography. This knowledge drives advancements in protein engineering for the improvement of human lives. Yet, obtaining high-quality crystals in X-ray crystallography is challenging. To overcome this, we used Translocation ETS Leukemia protein Sterile Alpha Motif domain (TELSAM), a promising polymer-forming crystallization chaperone (PFCC), to enhance protein crystallization. Human thirty-eight-negative kinase-1 (TNK1), a key player in cancer progression, possess a ubiquitin association (UBA) domain that binds polyubiquitin and regulates TNK1 activity and stability. Although sequence analysis hints at an unconventional TNK1 UBA domain architecture, its molecular structure lacks …

"We Say No More:" The Role Of Bodily Trauma And Hybrid Spaces In The March For Our Lives Movement, Haeley Van Der Werf

Theses and Dissertations

The youth-led March For Our Lives is founded on the idea of young people forced into advocacy by unthinkable tragedy. The movement exists in a digital age where the lines between the physical and digital have become increasingly blurred. By using the work of scholars such as Manuel Castells and Henry Jenkins as a foundation to analyze this movement, we can gain a deeper understanding of why MFOL has succeeded and failed in the ways that it has. These noted digital activism academics will be used to explore how collective anger is expressed and created through the use of personal …

Shy But Not All The Same: Adolescent Profiles Of Shyness, Self-Regulation, And Benevolent Values, Christina M. Schwartz

Theses and Dissertations

While existing research has posited shyness as a risk-factor for floundering in adolescence and emerging adulthood, not all shy young people may struggle to the same extent. Characteristics such as self-regulation and benevolent values may influence the extent to which individuals with high levels of shyness will have socio-emotional challenges. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to use a person-centered analysis to explore subgroups of adolescents with distinct levels of shyness, self-regulation, and benevolent values and to examine how these groups differ on outcomes in adolescence and in emerging adulthood. The sample for this paper consisted of 682 …

Computational Modeling Of Energy Landscapes And Trajectory Studies Of Fundamental Organometallic Reactions, Joshua I. Wheeler

Theses and Dissertations

Organometallic reactions are a fundamental class of chemical transformations. The mechanisms of organometallic reactions are routinely modeled by calculating intermediates and transition-state structures on a potential energy surface with density functional theory (DFT). The translation of these calculated structures to a reaction mechanism is typically done under the umbrella of statistical transition state theory. This dissertation reports the use of DFT calculations and quasiclassical direct dynamics trajectories to explore the possibility of nonstatistical dynamic effects in organometallic reactions. Chapter 1 provides a brief review of potential energy surfaces, transition state theory, dynamics trajectories, and a review of previous dynamics studies …

Qosqo: A Documentary Approach To The Preservation Of Andean Culture, Emma Volz

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis and creative project aspire to follow the well-worn path of documentary filmmaking. The written portion of this thesis includes background information on Incan history and the Southern Andean language of Quechua that informed and developed into my film, Qosqo. The short documentary is a hybrid between traditional and experimental non-fiction filmmaking, exploring Cusco, Peru’s spirituality through the sage perspective of a native Cusqueñan woman, Norma Sanchez de Incaroca.

The film is a personal reflection of Norma’s experience with the Quechua language, a historically marginalized and currently endangered language. Her reflections are framed within the context of Cusco’s complex …

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Lds Scholarship At Sbl

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

At the recent annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), held 22-25 November 1997 in San Francisco, there were some interesting developments in the area of LDS scripture studies. In addition to a number of attendees from BYU and FARMS, at least three LDS scholars-Donald W. Parry, Eric G. Hansen, and John A. Tvedtnes-were speakers on the program. Hansen's paper, entitled "Parallels between the Egyptian 'Opening of the Mouth' Ritual and the Book of Mormon (Mosiah 25 through Alma 29)," may have been the first to use the Book of Mormon …

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

New Book Probes Ancient Near Eastern Backgrounds Of Book Of Mormon

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Most Correct Book: Insights from a Book of Mormon Scholar, a new book by John A. Tvedtnes, associate director of research at FARMS, provides more than 45 insights into the text and teachings of the Book of Mormon. Published by Cornerstone, the book deals with linguistic, historical, cultural, and theological matters that underscore the accuracy and internal consistency of the Book of Mormon.

Conference Focuses On Book Of Abraham

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

A FARMS-sponsored conference held at BYU on Saturday, 16 October, highlighted recent research on the Book of Abraham. Titled "The Book of Abraham: Astronomy, Papyrus, and Covenant," the half-day event represented a broad, interdisciplinary approach to deepening understanding of the content and backgrounds of the Book of Abraham.

Book On Romans 1 Launches New Series

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Romans 1: Notes and Reflections, by James E. Faulconer, is the inaugural volume in FARMS's new Ancient Texts and Mormon Studies series. The · aim of this series is to explain the historical origins and purposes of ancient religious texts and to show their main points of value to modern religious readers. Like forthcoming volumes in the series, Romans 1 includes the ancient text, a readable English translation, and general commentary.

Elder Pinnock, Professor Nibley To Speak On Temples

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

On 4 December FARMS will sponsor a conference at BYU titled "Temples through the Ages." The three-hour event will comprise four presentations, including a keynote address by Elder Hugh W. Pinnock and a concluding lecture by Hugh W. Nibley.

More Is Better Than One: The Effect Of Ensembling On Deep Learning Performance In Biochemical Prediction Problems, Jacob A. Stern

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents two papers addressing important biochemical prediction challenges. The first paper focuses on accurate protein distance predictions and introduces updates to the ProSPr network. We evaluate its performance in the Critical Assessment of techniques for Protein Structure Prediction (CASP14) competition, investigating its accuracy dependence on sequence length and multiple sequence alignment depth. The ProSPr network, an ensemble of three convolutional neural networks (CNNs), demonstrates superior performance compared to individual networks. The second paper addresses the issue of accurate ligand ranking in virtual screening for drug discovery. We propose MILCDock, a machine learning consensus docking tool that leverages predictions …

What's The Password? Account Sharing In The Context Of Passwordless Authentication, Daniel Taylor

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Passwordless authentication methods are becoming increasingly available for online accounts. This research asks how people will share online accounts with friends and family when there is no longer a password to share. Research participants were introduced to passwordless authentication methods and asked how they imagine the account sharing process might work. They were then introduced to four different methods of passwordless accounts, and asked to evaluate them. Sharing a link to register an additional authentication method proved to be the most popular method of account sharing.

The "Missionary Voice": Bona Fide Sociolect Or Figment Of The Mormon Linguistic Imagination?, Joshua Stevenson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Can members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consistently identify the so-called “missionary voice”? That is, when presented with a series of unidentified speech samples that are a mix of currently serving young missionaries and their college-aged peers, how accurate will they be at selecting missionaries from the lineup? Additionally, what features (prosodic and otherwise) make the missionary voice distinct? That is, which characteristics of missionary speech most strongly index it as such? In this paper, I seek to answer both of these questions through a sociolinguistic lens (and, in part, via the tools of perceptual dialectology). …

Cloning A Fusion Gene For The Identification Of The Proteins Contained In Ubiquitin-Rich Condensates, Grace M. Whitehead

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Cellular liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) is a mechanism by which membraneless organelles such as polyubiquitinated condensates form and function. A non-receptor tyrosine kinase, Tnk1, binds to the polyubiquitin of polyubiquitinated condensates that are labeled for the proteasome for autophagy through its ubiquitin association (UBA) domain. This tyrosine kinase has links to a subset of hematological cancers, so identifying the protein contents within polyubiquitinated condensates is essential for understanding their significance in cancer pathways and to eventually identify potential therapeutic targets. This honors thesis focuses on the cloning of a fusion gene, pcDNA3.1 mNeonGreen–V5–UBA, as well as its deactivated L36D variant, …

Student Perceptions Of The Effectiveness Of Mindfulness Interventions In The Esl Classroom, Lauren Smith

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Mindfulness has received increased attention in recent years in educational contexts as a tool to help students mitigate negative emotions, enhance resilience, and improve academic performance (Dawson et al., 2020; Galante et al., 2018). Although interventions teaching principles of mindfulness have flourished in elementary schools and university contexts (Felver et al., 2016; Ma et al., 2019), limited research has looked at the effects of mindfulness interventions in ESL (English as a Second Language) educational contexts. This thesis details a study investigating student perceptions of the effectiveness of mindfulness interventions in an Intensive English Program (IEP) for nonmatriculated university students over …

Songs On The Road: A Novel, Lane Welch

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Songs on the Road: A Novel reimagines the open road of mid-century American literature, a literary phenomenon that frequently imbued the mundane with a power bordering on the fantastic, as literally fantastic in a way that examines and deconstructs literary tropes from the mysterious hitchhiker to the film noir detective. This thesis includes excerpts from the novel and a critical introduction exploring the works of literature the novel draws from and engages in dialogue with.

Is Costco Worth Incentivizing? An Analysis From The City’S Perspective., Mccord Lethco

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Costco stores have significant economic implications for smaller cities, often becoming pivotal points in their development. These cities eagerly invite Costco to establish stores within their borders, offering substantial financial incentives to facilitate this growth. The effects of a new Costco store can be diverse, impacting local municipalities in both positive and negative ways. This study focuses on two key aspects: changes in sales tax revenue and property values, keeping in mind the agglomeration[1] effects that Costcos bring about.

I examine three Utah cities to estimate the impact on taxable sales and analyzes Costco's influence on residential property values …

The Economic Regions Of Chinese Civilization: A Gis-Based Analysis Of Grain Markets In China, 1736-1842, Karl Ryavec, Mark Henderson, Rocco Bowman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

End Matter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Is Civilization A Good Thing?, David Wilkinson

Comparative Civilizations Review

How do we feel about “Civilization”? What emotions does the idea of “civilization” evoke from us? Why are these emotions attached to that idea? In more technical terms, what are the “connotations” of “civilization”? Laudatory or derogatory? And why do we feel the way we feel about it? What makes us welcome civilization, fear it, praise it or shun it?

Monitoring Wise Civilization By Creating An Index, Andrew Targowski

Comparative Civilizations Review

The Wise Civilization Index will assess how wise we are in developing and living in a sustainable civilization.

Recently, people have started to worry about the state of the climate. This has been reflected in the finding that the climate temperature should be kept to a growth of below two degrees Celsius by 2100 to save our species from a slow death (The Paris Agreement of 2015). After all, raising the human body temperature by two degrees threatens illness and even death by four degrees. The same (relatively) can be done with Earth. However, apart from the climate, the problem …

Buber The Radical Egalitarian And Buber And Psychology, Kenneth Feigenbaum

Comparative Civilizations Review

My first iteration for this paper was to present Martin Buber in the context of radical politics in Germany and to focus upon his relationship to the anarchist Gustav Landauer. After a brief search, I found too few sources that were easily accessible from here in the United States, so as part of this presentation I situate Buber in the radical politics extant mostly during his time in Germany and in Berlin. I focus here on Buber’s psychology but include several intellectual side trips visiting aspects of Buber’s philosophy and his politics. I cannot separate them in discussing Buber and …

What Are Our Unenumerated Rights As Americans? An Analysis Of The Ninth Amendment And The Fourteenth Amendment’S Privileges Or Immunities Clause Using Original Intent Originalism, Bryan Habashi

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research aims to determine what the author believes is the original intent of the Ninth Amendment and the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The author plans to do this through a variation of original intent originalism, the philosophy that the original meaning of the text should be what the framers (and secondarily the ratifiers) said the text means. The author believes that original intent originalism is the correct method to interpret the Constitution. This thesis will begin with a defense of this philosophy. Then the author will use this philosophy to determine the original intent of …